The news
Polls opened across the US on Election Day on Tuesday as voters cast their ballots for the next president. At stake is control of the White House and Congress in a vote with enormous national and global consequences.
Opinion polls reflect the closest presidential race yet in modern American history, with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump battling for victories in seven key swing states that represent their surest path to securing enough Electoral College votes to win. win – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.
Also on some state ballots are hot-button issues like abortion access and minimum wage requirements, while others feature highly contentious races for the House of Representatives, Senate and governorships.
Follow us for important updates and analysis from the campaigns, pollsters, experts, lawmakers and voters through Election Day. You can also read our hour-by-hour guide on how to watch the election results, as well as the key factors to keep an eye on.
The view from the Trump campaign
Trump wrote on X that Election Day “will be the most important day in American history,” and said voting would take a long time because “voter enthusiasm is through the roof.” After casting his vote in Palm Beach, the former president said he was “confident” about the election, and that if he lost, he believed there would be no violence because his supporters “are not violent people.”
Meanwhile, his running mate JD Vance urged Americans to “treat each other with respect” after casting his vote in Cincinnati, Ohio. He said the Trump campaign “feels very good about the energy, but ultimately the ball is in the Americans’ court.”
The view from the Harris campaign
Vice President Kamala Harris published several messages on X urging Americans who have not yet voted to go to the polls. “America, now is the time to make your voices heard,” she wrote, urging her supporters to “write the next chapter of the greatest story ever told.”
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, a former high school football coach, turned to a sports reference on X and wrote: “It’s game day. Let’s win this.” Addressing a crowd in the key state of Pennsylvania, Walz said the US elections are “the fairest, the freest and the most secure” and urged voters to remain calm.
Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama released videos urging people to vote, including one that featured several celebrities emphasizing that the election, like 2020, could be decided by razor-thin margins, while former President Bill Clinton also posted on X urging people to cast their votes for Harris and “finish strong.” Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, emphasized the importance of protecting women’s reproductive rights, an issue the Harris campaign hopes to capitalize on today.
The view from the United States
Pennsylvania
In Cambria County, polls will open later than normal after problems were discovered with some of the machines used to scan ballots. Election officials said that “there is a process in place for these types of issues” and that the outage “should not discourage voters from voting at their polling place,” CNN reported. Other polling places in the state also reported that some machines were experiencing problems, but election officials assured that all votes would be counted.
Georgia
Two polling places in Fulton County were reportedly temporarily closed early this morning after receiving threatening phone calls that were investigated by local police. According to a statement from the Fulton County Police Department, the county is trying to keep affected polling places open a little later.
The view from Congress
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Suzan DelBene sounded optimistic that her party could flip the House of Representatives, telling NBC News that voters are “fed up with the chaos, dysfunction and extremism of Republicans.”
The view of experts
The Economist
According to The Economist’s final election forecast, the chance that Harris would win increased from 50% to 56%. The lead is “small enough to hardly be called a lead,” the paper warned, but reflects the perception that Harris has “had an overall stronger week to end the campaign” than Trump, adding that “the latest batch of polls included in our model confirms that.”
Dave Wasserman
A surprising development in this election campaign, Wasserman wrote, is “that there has really been no major story that did not underlie the campaign (natural disaster, border crisis, etc.) and that the news has determined what the candidates’ events in has put the spotlight on. personalities and behavior.” This, he said, “has not played to Trump’s strengths.”
Justin Lahart
The economy is “the third party candidate” in this election, wrote The Wall Street Journal’s Justin Lahart — although exactly how this will influence voters is “not so simple.” The US economy has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic, but high inflation means the cost of living is higher and housing is less affordable than when Biden took office. “Voters seem to have a longer memory for inflation than for economic growth,” Lahart noted. Whether Trump or Harris wins, they will both be able to point to the economy and say, “Here’s why,” Lahart added.
Paul Krugman
A possible second Trump term would affect not only those who oppose him, but also his supporters, Krugman warned. “The guardrails that kept him in check last time are gone,” he wrote, arguing that a second Trump term could resemble a “soft autocracy” similar to that of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, for whom Trump has expressed his admiration, and vice versa.
John Zobby
The last six polls released before Election Day all showed almost the same story as previous polls in October: The race will be won by a “thin” margin, Zogby said. While Harris is “certain” she will receive millions of “surplus” votes in major Democrat-voting states like California and New York, which will “increase her total popular vote nationwide,” these will mean little to her in key battleground states. of which is “too close to call” on the last day of voting, Zogby wrote for The Guardian.
The view of voters
Swing State Voters Express Concerns:
Ahead of Election Day, voters in battleground states expressed a sense that “their nation was coming undone,” The New York Times reported, with many expressing fear about the possibility of violence both during and after the election. Others said they were relieved the campaign was coming to an end. Voters in the swing state of Georgia told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they also expressed concern about what might happen after the election. One, an 18-year-old man — a key demographic group that the Trump campaign has tried to reach but who doesn’t normally vote, said he voted because “everyone should participate in this.”
The first local results are in:
Voters in the New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch — of which there are six — cast their ballots shortly after midnight on Tuesday, resulting in a tie, mirroring what polls have been suggesting for months: “It’s really close,” Politico’s Lisa Kashinsky wrote. The small community voted unanimously for Joe Biden in 2020, and some were surprised by the outcome this time: “I didn’t see that coming,” Scott Maxwell told The New York Times.
